The Bixter study

Bixter, M. T. (2015). Happiness, political orientation, and religiosity. Personality and Individual Differences, 72, 7-11. ://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914004553

• Examining how happiness levels are predicted by political orientation, religiosity, and their interaction effect

• Samples

  • General Social Survey, 2012

    • U.S. general population; n=1,220

  • World Values Survey, 2005

    • Citizens worldwide; n=57,658

Methods (variables)

• Happiness

  • 7-point scale: completely unhappy - very happy

• Political orientation

  • 7-point scale: extremely liberal - extremely conservative

• Religiosity

  • An index, made from 7 questions which were standardized then averaged together

• Demographic covariates

  • Age, biological sex, education level

Methods (data analysis)

• Linear regression predicting happiness using the political orientation variable, the religiosity variable, the interaction effect between political orientation and religiosity, and the three demographic covariates

Results from the Bixter study

• Both political conservatism and religiosity (significantly) positively predicted happiness

• Being politically conservative seems to amplify the effect of religiosity on happiness

• Religiosity did not seem to have much of an influence on the happiness of liberals

Visuals from the Bixter study: General Social Survey

Visuals from the Bixter study: World Values Survey

Discussion of Bixter’s findings

• Shared values between religious communities and conservatives (tradition, respect for authority, etc.)

  • Religion more psychologically and socially satisfying for conservatives than liberals?

Our linear regression results (n=304)

Visualizing our results

Main findings

• Did NOT replicate Bixter’s results

  • Political orientation, religiosity, and the interaction between the two did not significantly predict happiness

• The only significant predictors in our model were age and education level, which were both positively correlated with happiness

• Our r-squared value (0.074) is higher than those in Bixter’s study: 0.04 for GSS and 0.02 for WVS

Discussion

• Differences in sample from GSS and WVS?

• Bixter’s data from 2005 and 2012

  • Religion has become more of a political issue – potential amplification or underplaying of religiosity due to social desirability biases or demand characteristics?

• Primed differently based on other questions in the larger survey?

Future Directions

• We don’t think we can confidently reject the results of Bixter’s study

• Ensuring representative sample

• Asking our survey questions in isolation

• If OUR results are replicated - approach the question in ways that could explain our findings